Of Princess Kaguya and Lady Tanabata
by Ki-no-Shirayuki
Summary: Of the moon and the stars, of mono no aware – the beauty of imperfection and impermanence.


帰るさの - みゆきもの憂く - 思ほえて  
そむきてとまる - かぐや姫ゆゑ  
_Kaeru sa no __-__ miyuki mono uku __-__ omooete  
__somukite tomaru __-__ Kaguya-hime yue  
_My journey back home has become so sorrowful I can't help but stop and look back, all because of Kaguya-hime.

Mikazuki-dono.

Have you any idea the feelings you roused in me the very first moment I laid eyes upon you, the way you mesmerized me, captured my heart, took my breath away the second you made your presence in my life known?

How can I forget the very first memory I have of you when I had been newly granted this human form, of that elegance dance you did among bamboos under the moon? So graceful, so lovely, the way you moved as though gliding across still water, as bamboo leaves caressed you and the moon bathed you in its silver splendor. _Sasa no ha, sarasara_… You are the most beautiful sword among the _tenka goken_, so the common knowledge goes. No, you are more than that. You are the _embodiment_ of beauty, the very picture of divinity, of ethereality seemingly belonging to another plane of existence.

It is even better that you are _Mikazuki_. Not Mochizuki, not the moon at its fullest perfection, but Mikazuki, the moon at its most _beautiful_. The beauty of incompletion, of the beginning and the end. For a moment, it seemed to me you were no longer a fellow sword; you were a divine being to my earthly, the Kaguya-hime to my hopeless suitor, a faraway fantasy no Penglai treasure tree branch or fire rat fur coat can buy that will soon forever leave the face of the earth. All I knew for the split second you finally noticed me and greeted me with your smile and that subtle moonlight in your eyes was that…

_I am hopelessly in love with you_.

* * *

秋風の - 吹きにし日より - いつしかと  
我が待ち恋ひし - 君ぞ来ませる  
_Akikaze no __-__ fukinishi hi yori __-__ itsu shika to  
__waga machi koishi __-__ kimi zo komaseru  
_You (Hikoboshi/Niúláng) have finally arrived now that I (Orihime/Zhīnǚ) have been longing for you since the autumn wind blew.

"Forgive me for my intrusion, but may I ask what wish have you decided to write on your _tanzaku_?" Juzumaru said, gently setting down his brush by the plate of ink so as not to bristle the hair. Being a Buddhist man of little desire, it didn't take long for him to come up with a Tanabata wish, or a wish for any other occasion; even if it was a New Year wish or a wish upon the rare shooting star, it would always be _to be able to lead those in need to the path of enlightenment_. But not so for Mikazuki, with his piece of paper still blank, his brush still having not touched the ink and a passable idea for a wish still having not yet crossed his mind.

"This is a once-in-a-year chance, and I want to make sure my wish _counts_." Mikazuki said. "Besides, there's no need to hurry. I have plenty of time to think of one, as the _tanzaku_ won't be hung up soon in the middle of this heavy rain."

Outside, the downpour pounded the Citadel roofs, showered upon bushes of blooming hydrangeas.

"Ah, the tears of joy of Hikoboshi and Orihime." Juzumaru commented, "To have only one evening each year to reunite, this once-in-a-year chance must be beyond precious for them. Happy to see each other, yet also aware that time is running out, it truly is at once beautiful and tragic."

A short while later, Mikazuki said, "Aren't we the same?"

"What do you mean?" asked Juzumaru.

"We may seem to get to be by each other's side longer than Hikoboshi and Orihime do, but the days we get to spend together is, in the great flow of time, little more than one evening. Our time together is, as you once said, the paper flower to their real; theirs withers in one season, ours stay fresh until the end of the year, but will eventually burn, dissipate in water, or be torn to pieces. So, shall we enjoy and cherish what little time we have together?" he said and moved closer to Juzumaru, "_My Orihime_."

As their lips brushed, an idea sparked in Mikazuki's mind, and so among the multitude of _tanzaku_ that decorated bamboo plants in the Citadel yard once the rain stopped was one that said _may my lover and I get to meet if only for brief moments in our next lives, like the lovers in the sky do every Seventh of July_.

* * *

_Poem 1: from the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter_  
_Poem 2: Man'yōshū #1532 by Yamanoue no Okura_  
_Translated (and annotated) by me._


End file.
